Earlier this year, WorkSafe BC (WSBC) approved a Notice of Project-Tower Cranes (NOP) that requires an employer responsible for a tower crane activity to provide written notice to WSBC at least two weeks before the crane activity starts. 

The WSBC report, released in June, referenced the 2021 crane collapse in Kelowna that killed five people. Construction workers Cailen Vilnes, Jared Zook, brothers Eric and Patrick Stemmer, and Brad Zawislak, working in a nearby office building the crane fell on, died in the incident. RCMP submitted a report to the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) for a charge of criminal negligence causing death in February 2024.

In 2023, several lawsuits were filed against Stemmer Construction the company that operated the crane at a downtown construction site. Stemmer Construction also filed a lawsuit against Liebherr Companies alleging negligence and a 鈥渄angerous defect鈥� with the crane it was unaware of.

The WSBC study consulted 130 crane-sector stakeholders and the BC Association for Crane Safety. 

According to an , approximately 350 cranes are currently operating in the province.